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OPINION

Mayo: Kasich knows successful governing is hard work

The first week in March, 13 states will hold primaries or caucuses on the way to the selection of one nominee each to run from their respective parties for president. The field has been whittled down to five for the Republicans and the same two for the Democrats. In three weeks, those numbers could be two, maybe three and one.

I hope one of those in the Republican process is John Kasich.

Make no mistake. I am a Democrat, have voted a time or two for a Republican over the last 49 years, but remain a Democrat..

But, of all the candidates running, Democrats included, Kasich appears to be the most genuine, practical-minded, person of conscience in the fray. His demeanor has been one of a calming voice amidst all of the acerbic rhetoric during the debates and accusations tossed among the three top contenders in the GOP and the high-sounding promises of the Democrats.

While Republicans were bickering the night of Judge Antonin Scalia’s death as to whether the president should put off the nomination of a new justice or the Senate should stall, Kasich exclaimed with incredulity, “Fellas, can we put this off and have some respect and think about his family? The man just died.”

During the last GOP town hall meeting on CNN, Kasich, a Catholic, answered an Anderson Cooper question about his faith with (paraphrasing), “Look, I live by my faith, but I do not govern by it. There are way more people in Ohio who are not of my faith, and I also must meet and serve their needs.”

And Kasich understands the needs of “his people.” While Republican governors across the nation were fighting Obamacare and the expansion of Medicaid to the working poor, Kasich petitioned the administration to allow Ohio to experiment and find ways to expand Medicaid to people in his state.

The administration did, and Kasich was able to put 609,000 people in the Medicaid program. The cost of the program did increase, but according to an Oct. 14 Forbes article by John Laszewski, the cost to do otherwise would have been far more expensive.

The title of the article sums up everything Kasich has been saying in his campaign, that other candidates, including Democrats, have yet to comprehend apparently: “Ohio Governor John Kasich’s Medicaid Expansion: Successful Governance is Very Hard Work.”

To hear the remaining GOP candidates and Sen. Bernie Sanders and Secretary Hillary Clinton tell it — we can build a wall and have Mexico pay for it; kick ISIS’s derriere and drive them from the face of the earth; give everyone a free college education; or, get rid of every environmental regulation — all as easily as pulling up to a drive-thru window and “getting it your way.”

Unfortunately, the other person who seemed to understand that meeting the needs of a diverse population is indeed hard work dropped out of the race after South Carolina, leaving us with a person who speaks to the gullible, another who has problems fabricating ads, and a third whose only ability is to lay all of this country’s ills on President Obama and speaks with a silver tongue while campaigning.

And, not to be discriminatory, on “our side” as much as I like what Sanders is saying, let’s face it: You can promise sunshine everyday but if you have nothing to do with the weather, promises are fleeting. And, as much as I think Clinton is the most experienced of all pretenders to the position, there are too many clouded issues surrounding her that need to be resolved—and soon.

I hope Kasich is still around March 8. I would really like to vote for him. But, alas, I feel the gullible, misled and unceasing rhetoric of “liar, liar, pants on fire” may see him drop by the wayside. I hope not.